Key components of the U.S. Partners in Learning Program are State Innovation Partnerships. These four- to five-year public and private partnerships have been established to identify and support innovative solutions that advance 21st century teaching and learning. Seven states are working with Microsoft and local education communities to develop new approaches and build sustainable models for improving the use of technology to meet 21st century teaching and learning needs. Learn more about what these partnerships plan to accomplish. On This PageFlorida: Sunshine ConnectionsThrough Partners in Learning (PiL), the Florida Department of Education and Microsoft launched Sunshine Connections, an online collaborative environment that provides Florida's teachers with Web-based tools linking them to student data, material about curriculums, document management and collaboration tools, and communications capabilities for educators around the state. This initiative supports everyday classroom activities. Sunshine Connections is a centerpiece of the Governor's continued commitment to improve student achievement. Sunshine Connections is designed to foster innovation in the classroom, create valuable relationships among educators and other stakeholders, and, ultimately, improve student achievement in Florida. Michigan: Leading and learningThe goal of Michigan Partners in Learning (MPiL) is to strengthen the state’s capacity to develop successful 21st century educators and learners. Governor Granholm first announced the four year, up to $4 million US grant in 2004 and since then the Michigan Department of Education and Microsoft have joined forces in developing and implementing systemic programs addressing the state’s most critical educational and economic needs. Examples of 2004-2005 successes include: development of new online materials providing more than 2,700 teachers training to meet Michigan’s Grade Level Content Expectation requirements and enhanced MyDreamExplorer (MDX) career development program using .NET technologies. New Mexico: 16 career clustersNew Mexico has completed a plan designed to engage communities in establishing alliances that create economic engines to expand job opportunities in the community and catalyze shifts in the school culture, curriculum, and instruction to ready students for 21st century jobs in their communities and beyond. Communities will base their revitalization efforts on the following principles: 1) Collaborative, Compelling Vision; 2) Collective Responsibility; 3) Education and Economic Alignment; 4) Entrepreneurship; 5) Integrated Personalized Revitalization of Schools and Economic Base in Community; 6) Sustainability; and 7) Scalability. Pennsylvania: Building capacity for the futureMicrosoft’s partnership with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania strives to document and leverage successes, best practices and key learnings from the state’s high schools, allowing for the improvement of instruction, enhancement of learning environments and expanded professional development opportunities for educators. This partnership will build on two significant examples of school reform in Pennsylvania. First is Project 720, a statewide high school reform initiative recently underway in 67 schools. Named for the number of days a student spends in high school, this effort aims to prepare students for postsecondary educational success. The second example is the School of the Future which opened its doors in September 2006. The School is a public/private partnership between the School District of Philadelphia and Microsoft, designed to create a sustainable and replicable model for improved instruction through the use of technology and systematic reform. From both projects, learning opportunities will be documented and made available electronically at no cost to educators in the form of multimedia case studies. Designed to serve as examples of instructional innovation, successful educational environments and valued professional development tools these case studies will be a resource for educators well throughout the City of Philadelphia, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and beyond. Virginia: Turnaround Specialist Program for principalsThe University of Virginia Partnership for Leaders in Education (PLE), a partnership of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and the Curry School of Education (Darden/Curry Partnership) has been contracted to deliver an executive education program specially designed for the needs of a cadre of experts who are charged with “turning around” consistently low-performing schools. The program focuses on leadership challenges, strategic change, decision-making, communications, and partnering. It offers the opportunity for successful school administrators who have already earned at least a Master’s Degree to also earn a professional credential in educational turnaround management. With the expansion of this program on a national basis, such a credential could become a valued commodity in the world of school improvement. In 2004, Microsoft entered the partnership to increase district support for the Turnaround Specialists, provide a digital forum to share and access multi-media case studies, create a sustainable funding mechanism to ensure the long-term success of the program, and develop a model for the Turnaround Specialist concept that can be scaled across the nation. The results were outstanding: 70 percent of the Turnaround Specialists from the first cohort led their school to achieve AYP in their first year as principal following participation in the program. Another two received greater then 10 percent reductions in student failure rates on math and English assessments. Program expansion: The first two cohorts in the program consisted of 10 principals from districts across Virginia. In 2006, the third cohort included participants from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; and Broward County, Florida for a total of 25 principals. In 2007, it is anticipated that the Turnaround Specialist program will grow in both participants and districts represented. In response to growing interest, an open enrollment session will be launched in October 2006. This four-day intensive session will mirror the full program in its focus on leadership challenges, strategic change, decision-making and communications and serves as a strong introduction to the Turnaround Specialist program. Washington: Learning transformedEastern Washington University and the Cheney School District have joined efforts to improve K-12 student achievement by changing the way teachers teach. The project titled “Learning Transformed” will identify and implement strategies to change traditional “one size fits all” classrooms by using technology, data, and new 21st century teaching and learning strategies. Through action research administrators, teachers, pre-service students, and faculty will focus on the following areas: 1. | Creating a culture of continuous improvement through research-based team planning, ongoing collaborative time for content-specific teachers in middle, high and post-secondary schools, collecting and analyzing student data and designing instruction to address individual student needs, book studies, and professional development.
| 2. | Changing instruction to increase student achievement in mathematics and language arts, particularly for 6th through 12th grade students who have not met standard, through differentiated instruction, effective integration of technologically-rich tools and resources into teaching and learning, and additional instruction through math/language arts labs and tutoring support.
| 3. | Strengthening teacher preparation programs by developing a continuous, feedback loop from K-12 to higher education that builds on K-12 student data and research-based instructional change to inform teacher preparation so that teaching graduates enter classrooms prepared to meet the needs of all students to be successful in the 21st century.
| 4. | Engaging parents through individualized conferencing regarding student progress and learning needs and through technology access at home to review content area standards, records of student work, assessment results, and instructional software programs.
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